Healthcare Articles

Medical Marketing

The Australian healthcare system will undergo significant changes over the next few years. The anticipated changes to its structure together with the health care reform initiatives will result in companies rethinking how they conduct their businesses. Fundamental to this change will involve developing an understanding of the needs of the end-consumer in the market - the patient. Gathering complete and accurate information on the patient's characteristics can be used as a strategic marketing tool. Companies are placing increased emphasis on leveraging the activities of their Medical departments to accomplish this.

As such an area that has been growing recently is Medical Marketing. Some companies have significant teams focusing on various Medical Marketing initiatives to support their registered products. Such programmes may include phase IV programmes, usage studies or customer value-added programmes. Central to the objectives of these programmes is the effective collection and communication of clinical data so as to influence the behaviour of target groups.

The behaviours that the company may choose to influence could include:

1. Improving patient's compliance.

2. Improving patient's disease awareness so that they will either not get the disease in the first place or the progression of the disease to a more serious state will be delayed.

3. Getting patients to talk to others thereby communicating the product's key messages through their peer group.

4. Getting doctors to prescribe the treatment.

5. Getting healthcare professionals to promote the product within their peer groups.

The goal of Medical Marketing is to systematically gather local usage data on both patients and healthcare professionals so that the thinking processes of these groups can be understood and assessments made as to what is required to change their behaviour.

The first stage in Medical Marketing is market segmentation. This involves identifying the demographics and psychographics of the various patient and health professional groups. Information is gathered on how patients think about their disease, what they would do to be free of their disease, what they would give up, what they would pay, where they go for information, what influences them, and how do their healthcare professionals perceive the product.

The next stage involves targeting those segments that are commercially attractive. To be attractive a segment needs to be accessible, large enough to support a return on investment and capable of being influenced. Influencing a segment involves understanding their needs and positioning the product to satisfy these needs.

Companies position a product based on a number of attributes, including the benefits of the product and the value that the product gives to the customer. In order to determine the most appropriate position for the product it is the role of Medical Marketing to research the target groups and determine what they value. From this a 'Brand position' is devised thus giving clear guidance to those implementing a communication programme.

Working within Brand Teams the role of the Medical Marketing Manager would therefore involve the following:

1. Analysing the incidence and prevalence of the disease, patient demographics, current and future treatment modalities, customer satisfaction with current treatments, trends in the diagnosis of the disease, and potential treatments.

2. Developing customer value added programmes eg workshops for nurse educators, patient support groups, GP training sessions.

3. Managing phase IV clinical research programmes including protocol and CRF development, investigator identification, trial management, data management, the publication of results and then the communication of these results, including liaising with advertising and medical education companies to prepare the communication materials.

4. Managing key opinion leader advisory groups to discuss current clinical practice and treatment protocols and the major issues facing each area.

5. Building relationships with key opinion leaders in the relevant disease states (doctors, pathology groups, patient support groups, nurse educators, government bodies, researchers) to determine the current and future management options for the disease.

6. Undertaking strategic market planning analysis by identifying foreseeable threats to avoid and opportunities to pursue, environmental analysis, customers to serve, competitors to challenge, product characteristics on which the business will compete, market segmentation and product positioning analysis.

In summary, Medical Marketing involves using clinical data for commercial advantage. After a product has been launched the company's focus is to increase sales and gain market share. This involves a whole range of activities from advertising through to sales representative detailing, and central to these initiatives is the communication of clinical data. It is the role of Medical Marketing to gather the required information and to communicate it with target groups, thus influencing behaviours for commercial benefit.

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By Dr Glenn Carter, Managing Director of Pharmaceutical Professionals, a Sydney professional services company.

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